The University of Illinois hired a trustee’s future son-in-law, bypassing regular university hiring practices and awarding the relative a $115,000 salary.

The document, called a Secretary’s Report, is presented to trustees for information, she said. Trustees do not vote on those reports, delegating power to the president and, in turn, the chancellors to make hiring decisions, Thompson said.

Shah did not attend the January 2008 meeting; he was traveling in India at the time, Thompson said.

The university does not have a specific policy on nepotism, UI officials said. Other UI trustees have had relatives employed by the university, including former Trustee Ada Lopez, whose husband was a professor at the UI Chicago campus, Thompson said.

Ted Chung, staff attorney for the commission, said Monday he had not planned to question Shah about his son-in-law’s hiring on Tuesday and was not aware of any documents turned over to the commission that referenced it.

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When he noted that the MBA program at the Urbana campus has few foreign students and needs more diversity, a commission member asked why he didn't ask for an examination of the policies rather than individual students' cases.

He began his testimony by talking about growing up in India, and said he is proud of his service on various boards.

Shah said it's normal for people of Indian heritage to go to a congressional office and ask for help with obtaining visas, and said "that was the thinking in my mind" about admissions requests at the UI.

In U. of I.'s petition for de Jeu's H-1B temporary work visa, granted to foreign workers with special skills, the university wrote that de Jeu would "deliver customized training and consulting services."

The university paid $1,820 for the visa, including premium processing to hasten the review from several months to several weeks. As part of the visa application, Dennis Campion, associate dean of the university's extension program, wrote about de Jeu's expertise in product evaluation and international business.

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